Health

The Flying Black Medics were begun in 1970 by a group of black medical practitioners who flew from Chicago to Cairo, Illinois to bring healthcare and health education to residents of the remote community. One of the participants, Dr. Leonidas Harris Berry, was also an active member of the civil group, United Front, an organization that provided protection, monetary support, and other assistance to the people in Cairo, Illinois who were the victims of racist attacks.

The Black Cross Nurses (BCN) were established by Marcus Garvey as one facet of the Universal Negro Improvement Association’s (UNIA) goal to develop a “black nation-state-in-waiting”. The first BCN unit was established in Philadelphia and was aimed to be the principal healthcare provider for the UNIA but also expected to tend to the armed forces, namely UNIA’s own militia and the African Legion. They educated the public on proper sanitation techniques to prevent the spread of disease, attended to the sick in their division, and were expected to enact a system of “relief” in the case of a natural disaster or epidemic. The BCN also provided an opportunity for black women to pursue a career in nursing, a field with otherwise very limited horizons for women of color.

Medical illustrator Hillary Wilson has been part of the push to represent more diversity in medical illustration. The majority of medical illustrations use white males as a model and the majority of medical illustrators are white. The lack of diversity in medical illustration not only hinders black people’s ability to feel comfortable in a healthcare setting but also hinders the ability of patients and doctors to properly diagnose some conditions which would look different on darker skin. Illustrators like Wilson Wilson hope to normalize medical illustrations of POC and disseminate them among the larger population to increase representation in the medical field.

New Community Church of God in Christ (NCCOGIC) located in Waldorf, MD offers a semi-annual clothing drive to provide formal attire and casual clothing. The church provides these free clothes to its predominately Black congregation and the Charles County community.

Zenobia Thompson, a nurse at Homer G. Phillips Hospital, became a leader in the effort to keep the hospital from closing in 1977. Homer G. Phillips Hospital was the only hospital for black patients in St. Louis during segregation and still cared for primarily black patients after desegregation. It was also the first black teaching hospital west of the Mississippi river and by 1961 had taught that most black doctors and nurses in the world. Thompson organized campaigns to keep the hospital open, but despite her efforts, it was closed in 1979. Thompson continued her activism after the hospital’s closure and in 2019 was awarded the Lifetime Achiever in Healthcare Award and the Martin Luther King Award for her efforts.

In 1915 Booker T. Washington, the founder of the Tuskegee Institute, began National Negro Health Week, with which he aimed to develop and extend helpful health activities in black communities. The campaign organized cleanup and sanitation committees, sermons on health from pastors, and speeches from physicians. Washington placed the most emphasis on good sanitation and hygiene practices to prevent the spread of disease. The National Negro Health week campaign eventually gained support from the U.S. Public Health Service and now is a nationwide black health program.

E. Kitch Childs was a therapist in Oakland, CA (until 1991) who practiced feminist therapy to combat the abuses black women faced in the US. She ran her private practice from her home to make patients feel more comfortable and preferred group therapy to create a sense of community for clients who had once been alienated. Her practice also operated on a sliding scale that went down to $0/hr so that she could see the most marginalized patients. Childs also advocated for the decriminalization of sex work and advocated against antisemitism. In the few years before she died, Childs lived in Europe where she advocated for the rights of women of color and the erasure of systematic racism with approaches that don’t hinge on eliciting guilt.

Black Disabled Creatives is an organization dedicated to pushing for the representation of black disabled-creators in society at large. They also act as a platform for these creatives, showcasing opportunities and providing a network of other disabled creators in industries ranging from marketing and advertising to film and entertainment. The group also provides resources such as information on arts organizations that focus on disabled creators, creative tools, and resources on web accessibility.

Adah Belle Thoms cofounded the National Association for Colored Graduate Nurses in 1908. She hosted their first meeting in New York City. She campaigned for the enrollment of black nurses in the American Red Cross and was a driving force in increasing the number of black nurses in public health.

Mary Francis Hill Coley was a black midwife operating in rural Georgia starting in the 1930s. Coley was known for her willingness to help mothers of all backgrounds, not discriminating between black and white in the segregated South. Coley would also continue to help the family in the days following the birth, helping with cooking and cleaning as well as organizing the forms needed for the county health offices. Mary Coley helped deliver thousands of healthy babies over the course of her work and is remembered as a role model in health and her community.